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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2011 was a good GREAT year. It brought some of the most wonderful moments of my life, but also some of the roughest. There were definitely highs and lows (although mostly highs), but you take the bad with the good and I am so grateful for all that has happened this year. I truly have never been happier. It's strange to think of where we were and who we were a year ago. So much can change in a year. Let's talk a walk down memory lane via a ridiculous amount of pictures shall we?

New Years Eve 2010. What's wrong with my face? (Champagne probably.)

January:

January was an exciting month for us because we had both just graduated and had a whole semester to just work, play, and wedding plan. Well, mainly I did the wedding planning. We had so much in this next year to look forward to, it was like the calm before the storm.

Post interview at UT, already a longhorn he just didn't know it yet.

Oh and a certain someone had interviews at pharmacy schools. In January he had his first interview at UT, obviously it went well. I had a panic attack while Brendon was interviewing (alone, outside, next to the student union if you're wondering), we wanted this so badly! After I calmed down a bit, I explored the campus (for a good 5 hours) and walked along the drag, who knew I would end up working there in half a year?

February:

February was really cold. We had lots of snow and Denton shut down for a week. Well, except for our respective employers, we still had to go to work of course. I had to get a ride to work everyday since I couldn't get my poor car out of the parking lot.

Snowpocolypse 2011

We also had a little road trip to Houston so Brendon could interview at U of H (where he was also accepted!!! sorry, I'm a proud wife). We extended our trip a bit and stopped by Galveston for a night. Unfortunately it was Mardi Gras weekend and it was insane. We were clueless. A lovely fog also rolled in just as we checked into our room and stayed for the duration of our trip. You could literally not see across the street at some points.

In Galveston after Brendon's Houston interview. Cute fog huh?

Why are we so weird?

Also, Brendon turned 23! What an old fart!

March:

Along with March began the craziness that was our last three months in Denton. SO MUCH GOING ON. I turned 23, we saw friends get married, we worked a lot, oh and wedding planning, wedding planning, wedding planning.

These love birds tied the knot a month before we did!

At the riverwalk pretending we're fancy! If you haven't noticed, we love to pretend we're fancy.

April:

The month of the wedding. Craziest but most fun month ever. So much goodness. Also at some point we found out that Brendon got into UT and that we were moving to Austin! I told him when he found out to call me wherever I was no matter what. He called me at work one day and I was like, "uh whats up?" totally clueless and like why are you bothering me I'm trying to make that money (jk), and he said, "Remember that thing you told me to call you immediately about?" and then I started screaming and jumping up and down and crying. At work. Next to the front door. April was a good month. Also the month I started blogging! (So from this point, most everything has been covered in more detail in past posts, feel free to check them out if this run through of the year is not quite enough for you. Ha ha.)

My wedding shower with my beautiful ladies! Oh how I miss you all so much!!

Bachelorette party! I have no idea why half of us are making sad faces. But this is the only picture of all of us (and the soberest). Also, THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING SUCH BADASSES. LOVE YOU!

A little Kennedy turned 1! And ate the crap out of/bathed in that cake.

Oh and this happened:

Reading my vows. Not as well as Brendon read his.

We got married! I bet y'all forgot huh? (kidding) Hands down the most awesome day ever. EVER. Blew all of my expectations out of the water. It was perfect. Getting married is so much fun. One day I'll make a proper blog post about it. There is just so much to say! And so many beautiful pictures thanks to Breanna!

May:

I don't know which month was crazier, April or May. We started off May by spending two weeks on our honeymoon in Vancouver and Alaska. Basically the coolest trip ever with the best new husband ever. And when we got home we had a couple weeks to work, pack up our Denton lives, and spend as much time as possible with our friends before we headed down to Austin.

Alaska is wild and it is beautiful.

Our fabulous seats after a rain delay at the Rangers game!

Our cake our sweet friends surprised us with!

Leaving Denton was hard. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I still miss it so much.

June:

June was a toughy. Our first month in Austin was anything but smooth. I spent the whole month unemployed. In hindsight a month is really not that long, but at the time everyday seemed to last eternity. Not only was being unemployed incredibly hard financially, I was also left alone while Brendon was working 75% of the time. I was sad. I might even go as far to say depressed. I was away from all my friends, spent most of my time alone, and unable to find a job. And then I got pneumonia. That was the pinnacle of the terribleness. I thought I was going to die (and could have haha, thank god for doctors. And pharmacists of course!). It was a ROUGH month. BUT, I got a job, even while interviewing with pneumonia. Honestly I was tripping so bad on a fever I barely remember the interview. But my sweet boss must have had pity on me and hired me. I kid, I kid. Once I knew I was going to be working, things got better. Also, being close to family helped A LOT.

Even though I might have hated it at first, I had to admit, Austin is pretty.

I kinda look like a hot mess huh? That's because I WAS.

July:

There are not very many pictures of July. I started working, hallelujah. It was HOT. Hottest and driest summer I've ever experienced. I did a lot of hanging out in ac and by the pool. And I baked a lot.

Irish oatmeal bread. Pretty damn good.

August:

August was very similar to July. It was unbelievably hot outside and I worked as much as a could. We had a wonderful visit from family and Brendon started pharmacy school!

My sweet sister-in-law Lisa and my niece Gracelyn stayed with us for a few days! Miss y'all!!

Brendon after being "White-Coated", in 105 degree weather. Little did he know what he was getting into.

September:

September became the month of sewing! I decided to get back into sewing and lined myself up with a few projects for the upcoming months. September also became the month of pharmacy school is hard. It was a big adjustment for both of us. I had to learn not to be a whiny wife and Brendon had to just be a badass all the time, which is obviously stressful and tiring.

I'm sure this looks familiar.

October:

This spooky month flew by! I honestly can't remember most of it. I went to work and Brendon went to school. We carved pumpkins with family and I went to work dressed up like a fool on Halloween.

Pumpkin carvin' creeper.

Marie Antoinette will be your barista today.

November:

This month we dressed up a lot. It was a fun month. I stole Brendon away from school for a weekend which was perfect because from then on out until the end of the semester he was basically dead to the world. Pharmacy school is evil! We also got some good family time in and ate way too much food on Thanksgiving. Which I think is my new favorite holiday. Sorry Christmas! I still love you a lot!

Scottish lad and lass.

Couple of Germans this time. We're good at this sort of pose.

FEAST!

December:

This last month has been very good to us. Brendon finished up his first semester of pharmacy school with wonderful grades and we were actually able to hang out like normal married people. I got a promotion at work and moved to a new store, which I love. And of course with December comes the holidays! Our many Christmases were wonderful, full of family and food.

Hey! It's the Christmas card version of us!

Things about 2011 that are not pictured but need to be mentioned; My lovely family being there for me and us through all the craziness 2011 brought. I love you all and am so lucky to have you. I cannot say that enough. I am so glad to be closer to you all. My cats for being fat, lazy, and endlessly entertaining all year. My northern Texan friends for making my last months in Denton so good and making it so hard to leave, I miss you so much. I promise to visit soon. And of course my dear Brendon. You have been so good to me all year, as you always are. I don't know how it's possible to love someone more and more everyday after all these years, but you've got me hooked (ahem, possible UT reference). Thank you for marrying me.

So here we are on the last day of 2011. So surreal how quickly it has flown by and how much has happened. What a wild year it has been! Am I sad to see it go? Nope. It was a wonderful year full of changes and growing, but since every year seems to get better than the last I am excited to see what 2012 holds for us. Another year full of life, love, and who knows what else. 2012 brings us another adventure!

Dang how original is that title? SO creative. Prepare yourself for tons of family photos y'all. Are you ready? Okay. Let's do this.

We decided to spend our first Christmas morning as married folk here in Austin. We opened the couple little things we got each other and hung out with the cats a bit before we headed down to New Braunfels to see family. It was a nice and relaxing way to start my first Christmas as a Hogan.

Ummm, cutest picture of Mr. H ever? I thinkso.

Can you spy Sophie? The wrapping paper was her Christmas present. She approved. And if you're wondering, she gave me toe socks.

Opening my gifts! Also, shout out to the caffeine free diet coke in the corner. I got some from Brendon and my mom for Christmas. I might have a problem.

Sleepy heads! Our cute pjs are courtesy of Brendon's sweet momma. Deb gives us pajamas every year on Christmas Eve so we look fancy for Santa. She always picks out the cutest stuff, I still have all 6 sets (our first Christmas together we had only been together for less than a month, we weren't yet to the pajama stage)!

Round two was Christmas at my momma's house with my sister, her man Alex, and their friend Robert. Also, it must be stated that my mom makes the best breakfast taco feast EVER. Every Christmas. So good.

This is what Brendon calls, my "bitch" face. Sorry for the profanity! But it is what it is. I use it when necessary.

Julies dog/daughter Ava. She's a labra-dane. So shiny! And hyper!

My mom, with help from Ava, opening her giant bag. I made her 5 throw pillows, three green and two red. I'd show you pictures, but they're not that exciting.

Me and my hat! I got two hats, I'm so excited! My early morning drives to work are so cold, I needed something to keep my head warm badly. I wore one this morning and it was awesome.

Cuties in their matching hats!

Okay, I have to apologize, there are like no pictures of Brendon and the ones we got are lame. He did all the photo taking. Which is too bad because he looked so handsome!

Probably my cutest face.

For round three we headed to my daddio's house to have Christmas with my him, my step momma, and step bro. There aren't too many pictures, we started to run out of steam. And by we I mean Brendon because he was the photographer.

Don't they look so stoked?

I look horrendous, but hey, it's a picture of Brendon!

My dad did the best regift ever. He got this sweatshirt from my great grandma twenty something years ago and had it all this time, it had never been worn He gave it to Brendon. It's a truly heinous sweatshirt. It's not even white, it's like... cream. Brendon was so confused when he opened it until my dad started cracking up.

Annual sittin' on the fireplace photo, with hats! Those sombreros were from our rehearsal dinner/fiesta. There was a dollar still taped to the brim of one.

After a feast of turkey and yummy sides, we headed back to my mom's for a few rounds of uno. Brendon won basically every game. I think he was hiding wild cards up his sleeves. Monday my sister, mom, and I drove to Houston to see my grandpa and aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was good to see everyone as always and we had some fantastic mexican food! There are no pictures because at that point I was truly exhausted and a major sleepy head. Also I am lazy.

Major highlights of Christmas include: My mom giving me and my sister cook books she made full of her signature and amazing recipes (seriously, SO GRATEFUL, so much yumminess! although I know I still wont be able to cook them like she does), my dad getting me the wood and hardware to build my easel (although I was seriously confused when I opened a box of nuts and hinges), and spending a day full of goodness and love with my favorite people in the world. Also eating until I thought I may die.

Christmas is always a little sad for me because I am saying farewell to my favorite season. But at the rate time is flying I know it will be here again before we know it. Next up is New Years! Do you have big plans? Because we sure don't! I can't remember the last time I stayed up past midnight, but I am determined to do so! We will welcome 2012 into our lives and then probably pass out immediately. What wild party animals we are!

Monday, December 26, 2011

First and foremost I want to wish all of you a belated happy holiday! Whatever you celebrate and whoever you celebrate with, I wish you nothing but good tidings and warm fuzzy feelings!

We had a wonderful Christmas full of family, food, and love. The festivities started on Christmas Eve. We had Brendon's mom, his little bro, my mom, sister and her boyfriend over that evening for food and some gift opening. Brendon's family opens presents on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas morning after Santa arrives. So of course we participate! We feasted like kings, although there are no decent pictures of our culinary creations. My mom brought a ham and I made mashed potatoes, green been casserole, rolls, and homemade mac and cheese. There are so many leftovers. And I can't wait to go to town on them.

Let's take a gander around our table..that normally only seats four. Somehow we managed to fit seven people at it. Desk and lawn chairs may have been involved.

Alex, Julie, Mom!

Mom, Deb, AJ!

AJ, Brendon, and Me! It was a tight squeeze at the table, but we made it work.

My sister is cute.

Sophie was loving all the extra attention, as much as she pretended to hate it.

Gettin' ready to throw down on some gifts obviously. AJ was so stoked.

This is what happens when you give your little brother a machine air soft gun. Brotherly love!

AJ was just a teensy bit excited. I was just a teensy bit nervous. "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

What a cute man! I cannot express to you the insane amount of sweets we have in our possession post-Christmas. It borders on obscene. And I have no doubt that we will eat them all. I can feel the cavities forming.

Next post, Christmas day! The good thing about having multiple sets of families is multiple Christmas celebrations. And there is never enough Christmas. Although I have to admit, I am worn out. I need just one more day to recuperate before I head back to work. ALAS, I must work tomorrow morning. My next day off is New Years Day, and trust me, I am ready. Sleep, we will reunite again soon.